.5i8 APPENDIX. 



heads, which give to the bark a ribbed appearance like corduroy, 

 and under their blows it quickly thins out like gold under the 

 gold-beater's hammer. When the bark has been beaten out to 

 the requisite thinness, it is hung up to dry, and afterwards any 

 holes which may have been produced in the beating are neatly 

 patched with the trimmings from the edges. The thread used for 

 this purpose is made from the bark, or from the fibres of the plantain, 

 and a long thorn is used for a needle ; the sewing is remarkably 

 neat. The mhugu, when new, is of a yellow-brown tint, resembling 

 freshly tanned leather • some of the finer sorts, however, are of a 

 dull brick-red colour. They vary very much in quality, some of the 

 better kinds being beautifully soft, and these are procured chiefly 

 from the Sesse group of islands. The principal fault of this cloth is 

 that it soon decays if it gets wet. Sometimes the mbugu is dyed, 

 generally black, or various patterns in black, red, and blue are 

 printed on it. The tree from which the bark is removed is not 

 killed by the operation ; the wound is covered with banana leaves, 

 which are bound closely round it, and in process of time new bark 

 grows. A considerable number of people are employed in this 

 manufacture ; the women strip the bark from the trees and do any 

 repairing to the cloth that is necessary, but men beat out the bark 

 and make the cloth. — R. W. F. 



Beverages. — Brewing is extensively carried on in Uganda, as the 

 Waganda have an inveterate objection to drinking water, and many 

 of them boast that from early childhood water has never passed 

 their lips. Almost every one knows how to manufacture some kind 

 of drink, and men and women, boys and girls, alike engage in this 

 occupation. Two kinds of wine and two kinds of beer are manu- 

 factured : — Mubisi, called sandi in Uny6ro, is fresh banana wine, 

 which is a perfectly teetotal drink ; mivenge, an intoxicating banana 

 wine ; mlamba, a non-intoxicating beer made of banana juice, with 

 a small quantity of boiled millet seed ; and mctlwa, which has a 

 greater quantity of millet seed added, and is very inebriating. 



The Arabs have introduced the manufacture of spirits from 

 mwenge, and distil a liquor from it which contains a very high 

 percentage of alcohol. 



The mubisi is made as follows : — A large hole is dug in the 

 ground ; it is lined with banana leaves, filled with green bananas, 

 and covered over until the fruit is quite ripe. The bananas are 

 then peeled, and mashed with fine dried grass in a large wooden 

 boat-shaped trough, having a funnel end ; a little water is added ; 

 the whole is mixed up either by the hand or with short wooden 



